Japanese Publication 60-99783 discloses a prior female terminal fitting of the type shown in FIG. 13 of this specification. The female terminal fitting has an insertion member 1 formed at the anterior end in an angular tubular shape, and its posterior end has a barrel member (not shown) for connecting an electric wire by crimping. The opening 1a at the anterior end is for inserting a corresponding male terminal fitting 2. The interior of the insertion member 1 has a tongue shaped resilient contact 3 formed by turning over the base plate from the lower edge of the opening 1a. This elastic contact 3 is bent up from the lower edge and then its posterior end is bent down, as illustrated.
When the male terminal fitting 2 is inserted into the insertion hole 1a, it bends the bent-over portion of the contact 3 downwards, and makes electrical contact therewith.
In a miniaturized connector, due to the need to increase the insertion depth of the male terminal fitting with respect to the contact or for other reasons, the point of contact with the male terminal fitting is required to be set to be more to the anterior. However, with this configuration, it becomes necessary to increase the upward angle of the contact at the portion where the folding over occurs. As a result, the resilience of the contact can be adversely affected. Further, the fact that the angle of bending is increased also means that the contact deteriorates more rapidly, thereby adversely affecting its life.
A possible alternative is to set the point of contact to the anterior not by folding over the contact from the anterior end but to raise it from the posterior end towards the anterior end. With such a configuration, even if the point of contact is set to be towards the anterior end, the upward angle of the contact is not large. As a result, the resilience of the contact is maintained satisfactorily, and the above-mentioned problem can be resolved. However, the fact that the steepness of the contact is decreased means that the resilient force of the contact also decreases. Consequently, a new problem arises in that the elastic contact cannot maintain sufficient engagement force with a male terminal fitting.
The present invention has been developed after taking the above problem into consideration, and aims to present a female terminal fitting wherein even if the point of contact is set to be towards the anterior end (the end from which the male terminal fitting is inserted), sufficient resilience and contact pressure are maintained.